Meeting April 17th Member. Meetings April 2014 Issue

Transcription

1 April 2014 Issue Dear Fellow Compatriots, This is an active time for our chapter. We are in the middle of our very ambitious JROTC awards presentations. I want to thank our chairman Larry Blackburn for all of the work that he puts in on this project! And to thank every one of the presenters. We gain two benefits from these programs, first, the chance to meet and honor our future leaders and second to give SAR visibility in the communities in which we live. That is a win-win in my books. We were honored to have President Cohen at our meeting and I have learned that he may be coming to our April meeting as well. Our chapter is growing with the induction of Charles Rew at the last meeting and the approval of five new members this month. I look forward to seeing you all at our meeting. Ben Stallings President Meetings 2014 April 17, 2014 Member May 15, 2014 Member/Guest August 21, 2014 Member September 18, 2014 Member/Guest October 16, 2014 Member November 20, 2014 Member/Guest December 18, 2014 Member Meeting April 17th Member PineShavings 1 April 2014

2 Revolutionary War Timeline April 8, The British commence an attack upon Charleston, South Carolina. The British, commanded by General Henry Clinton, begin what is termed the one solid British triumph of the war. This bold move is intended to subjugate the South from Georgia to the Chesapeake. April 14-15, Staten Island Expedition. A force of 3,000 men is led by General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) from Elizabethtown Point to Staten Island, in an attempt to surprise the British. The British are informed of the raid and after spending an entire day in snow and below freezing weather, the Americans withdraw after capturing 17 prisoners and a marginal amount of booty. Alexander s losses total 6 men killed. The unruly behavior of the militia accompanying his forces causes the British to retaliate by burning the Elizabethtown courthouse and the academy at Newark. May 12, The worst American defeat during the Revolution. Charleston surrenders on 12 May. The British capture in excess of 3,000 Patriots while losing about 250 killed and wounded. Carelessness causes a massive explosion of 180 barrels of captured powder and somewhat mars the victory. Neither Clinton nor the American commander, General Benjamin Lincoln, displays any inspiring leadership. When Clinton learns of an impending French expedition, he determines that he should be in New York, and General Charles Cornwallis assumes command of British forces in the South. April 15-23, Fort Watson, South Carolina. Continental General Nathanael Greene detaches Henry Lee to screen his forces against any movement by Lord Cornwallis in the Wilmington area. The threat does not materialize and Lee and Francis Marion combine forces to lay siege to Fort Watson, which is a vital link in the scheme of British communications. Fort Watson is a small, but strong, position defended by a mixed force of 120 British regulars and Loyalists. After a short but sharp skirmish the British surrender. Two Americans are killed and six wounded. (pictured above) April 25, Clash at Hobkirk s Hill (Camden), South Carolina. With Lord Cornwallis retreat to Wilmington, North Carolina, after the British defeat at Guilford Courthouse, the task of defending South Carolina falls to a young nobleman of Irish ancestry, Lord Francis Rawdon-Hastings, an officer of marked ability. The movement of the Continentals under Nathanael Greene is anticipated by Rawdon whose Loyalist supporters provide information about the Continentals movements. A Continental deserter informs Rawdon about the precarious supply situation and Rawdon springs into action. Although outnumbered 1,174 to 800, he manages to surprise Greene and in the ensuing engagement the Continentals panic. Although casualties are approximately the same on each side, the British win a tactical victory. Greene retreats, managing to save his supplies and artillery, while Rawdon and his force fall back upon Charleston. PineShavings 2 April 2014

3 National Events State Events SSAR 124th Congress Greenville, South Carolina July 18 24, 2014 TXSSAR Fall BOM Temple, Texas November 7-9, 2014 Our JROTC presenta on cycle has begun. We were honored to learn that former PW President Larry Blackburn was named the State JROTC Vice Chairman. What a wonderful honor for such a hard worker in the program. John Beard presents the medal and cer ficate at Humble High, Army. A warm thank you to all of those Compatriots, giving of their evenings to honor such a great group of future leaders. Above: Larry Stevens at New Caney High School, right Kermit Breed & Cecil (VFW) at Humble High School. PineShavings 3 April 2014

4 PineyWoods March Meeting Pictured above: New Member Charles Rew shaking hands with TXSSAR President Robert Cohen who has just inducted him into SAR. Also pictured Chapter President Ben Stallings and Chapter Registrar Larry Stevens PineyWoods was honored to have TXSSAR President Bob Cohen attend our March meeting to swear in our new/old officers. Bob gave a presentation on membership and recruiting. He presented members with SAR Texas pins to help members advertise SAR. It was a treat to have Bob induct new member Charles Rew. Charles lives in Spring. His ancestor is Clayton Stribling. In a surprise, Bob Cohen said that his middle name was Stribling. This was an interesting development and one to be explored! Chapter President Ben Stallings finally was able to surprise Larry Stevens, to the delight of all. Ben awarded Larry the Chapter Distinguished Service Medal and Certificate. This is a new award that chapters may award once a year to members providing outstanding service to the chapter. PineShavings 4 April 2014

5 March Meeting continued Pictured at left, Chapter President Ben Stallings presents TXSSAR President Bob Cohen with a Liberty Bell as a gift of appreciation for his program at our meeting. This annual officer swearing in meeting gave us an opportunity to get a chapter photo. These happen far too infrequently. So pictured below are the members in attendance at our meeting Back row, le to right: Charles Rew, Kermit Breed, Ray Cox, Gregory Goulas, Joe Po er, Jeffrey LaRochelle, Larry Blackburn. Seated, le to right: James T. Jones, Jr., Larry Stevens, Allen Henshaw, Ben Stallings, Kim Morton and John K. Thompson. PineShavings 5 April 2014

6 TXSSAR Annual Meeting San Antonio March 28-30th The annual meeting of the TXSSAR was held in San Antonio this year. Members attending from PineyWoods were as follows: John and Mary-Claire Beard Jim and Dianne Jones Larry Blackburn Larry Stevens Allen Henshaw Tom Lawrence Jim Mitchell About fifty attendees enjoyed dinner at the Texas Land and Cattle Steak house Thursday evening. San Antonio is such a wonderful city to visit with its old Spanish architecture. A new slate of officers was elected and installed by NSSAR President General Joe Dooley. This slate is presented to the right. President General Dooley gave a wonderful speech at the Saturday banquet which explored the label for the American Continentals Rebels or Conservatives. An interesting and thought provoking argument. Mary-Claire Beard continued to serve the Ladies Auxiliary as their Treasurer. President President Elect Immediate Past-President Secretary Communications Secretary Staff Secretary Treasurer Registrar (Inland Group) Registrar (Coastal Group) Chancellor Chaplain Historian Vice President, CM&A District 1 VP District 2 VP District 3 VP District 4 VP District 5 VP District 6 VP District 7 VP District 8 VP District 9 VP District 10 VP District 11 VP Council of Chap Presidents Trustee Alternate Trustee Editor of Texas Compatriot Web Master Robert S. Cohen Larry G. Stevens Stephen W. Rohrbough Henry J. Voegtle, III Samuel P. Massey, Jr. Mike Radcliff John Beard David J. Temple Gerald Irion Tracy A. Pounders James C. Taylor Harmon Adair Peter T. Baron Jr. James E. Heath Bill Harper Thomas E. Carswell Ronald J. (Ron) Walcik Jim Alderman Drake Peddie Lawrence K. Casey, Jr. John K. Thompson Arthur G. Munford Stephen W. Lee Peter Rowley Allen Greene II Stephen W. Rohrbough Robert M. Clark Mark Remington Ray Cox Listed at the right are the members of the PineyWoods chapter who are serving leadership roles in the various TXSSAR committees. We may be a small chapter but our members are committed to the success of SAR and we applaud their work in support of SAR goals. Committee Annual Reports - Subcommittee Awards - Website Subcommittee Awards - ROTC Subcommittee Color Guard Committee Communications Committee District VP Committee Information Technology Committee Long Range Planning Committee Newsletter Committee Patriot Fund Projects Patriot Medal Selection Perpetual Fund Committee PineyWoods Member Larry Blackburn, Chair Ray Cox, Chair Larry Blackburn, Vice Chair Larry Stevens, Southern Com Ray Cox, Vice Chair Larry Stevens, Chair Ray Cox, Chair Larry Stevens, Chair Larry Stevens, Vice Chair John Beard, Vice Chair James T. Jones, Chair James T. Jones, Chair PineShavings 6 April 2014

7 Have any of you been watching the new miniseries on the Culper Spy ring? It is on AMC on Sunday nights. Many issues ago we featured a short article on some of the activities. This series is very interesting. We asked our resident spy-master, Jim Mitchell to comment on the series. Below are some of his comments.. Indeed, and to my knowledge very little factual details have been published about Gen. Geo. Washington as a actual spymaster, which he definitively was... For Code Name: Culper Ring (network) of Patriot spies that included secret American agents recruited at Harvard, among them were Benjamin Tallmadge, Rob't. Townsend, [who was actually proven to have utilized Code Number 132], Nathaniel Sackett of Sag Harbor, Long Island, [personal recruit of Patriot Tallmadge]; and, Nathan Hale (caught.) Long Island Tory publisher -James Rivington the strident voice against revolutionary Patriots was also a member. There are published reports about his mistreatment by local New York City Patriot sympathizers against Loyalist publisher Rivington, who owned the New York Gazette Another member was the ever popular tavern owner Samuel Fraunces. His Fraunces Tavern was built on Pearl Street located near City Hall and historic Trinity Church Graveyard is still standing today. After 1783, Fraunces was almost bankrupt and he had nearly lost his beloved tavern. However, after election as President Geo. Washington invited Fraunces to become his household steward at Philadelphia, then the Capital. Alexander Hamilton a member of George Washington s personal staff was also believed to have been a member of the Culper Ring. Given his position on staff, it was logical to assume he could have been a handler and intermediary. By some foreign-counter intelligence reports it appears the British believed he was. Lastly, there is factual evidence that an Irish tailor named Hercules Mulligan, whose shop was a favorite place patronized by elite British officers, who adored the well tailored uniform, was an American agent for Gen. Washington's secret ring. The British had important agents recruited by New York's British Gen. Gage. Chief, among them Massachusetts turncoat Benjamin Church, M.D., and a chief Patriot spy that accepted British pay for informing upon the Boston spies that were names -Mechanics i.e., Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, et al. Please, know that spying was seen during 1770s as a dastardly paid, profession NOT TO BE respected! Secret writing, and leaving signal(s) was always involved as was secret passage, usually performed at early morning or late evening, during night and on holidays and religious days which kept individuals sidelined as local weirdos and even outcasts at their college campus, too. Tallmadge was Washington's masterful Culper Ring leader who only utilized the anodyne alias ("John Bolton," "Samual Culper") no two Patriot operatives apparently knew his true identity! As I've intimated to you the character of Benedict Arnold, in United States Foreign-counter intel. circles, is often contrasted as an American intel. failure because he was considered a "bent" character and a plainly crooked individual and mercenary entrepreneur! His wife Peggy (Shippen) Arnold logically, in US intel. circles, is believed to have been doubled by Alexander Hamilton for the Culper Ring; however, at a date plainly after her husband was made the superintendent of West Point -she, "tripled" returning her heart to Gen. Gage's Adjutant and her ex-boy friend Maj. John Andre'. Finally, keep in mind that, ALL Culper Ring figures were factually never documented but known only, by Code Numbers. Speculation among American intelligence has located a Code Number utilized by logically a female to report directly to British Gen. Gage, that might have been Peggy Shippen Arnold. Cipher codes were commonly utilized in a variety of methods which should be broadcast Sunday evening. Good watching for TV. Jim Mitchell PineShavings 7 April 2014

8 Colonial discontent with British enforcement of taxation policies and the closing of ports to foreign trade was not just an occurrence in the Province of Massachusetts in Rebellious Patriots had taken control of the provincial assembly in Williamsburg Virginia and in March 1775 had begun recruiting troops. Alarmed, John Murray, 4 th Earl of Dunmore, and the royal Governor of Virginia, ordered British marines to remove the gunpowder from the storehouse in Williamsburg. They were ordered to transport the kegs to a Royal Naval ship on the James River. This greatly alarmed members of the colonial legislature and prompted a militia uprising. The conflict was resolved without incident but Dunmore feared for his safety and the safety of his family. They left Williamsburg aboard a Royal Naval ship in June of Dunmore assembled a small fleet at Norfolk, which was a town of merchants with strong Loyalist ties. The British fleet at Norfolk minimized any threat of Whig actions in Norfolk. With Dunmore holding Norfolk, and not much else, skirmishes and confrontations arose between the Tories and Whigs. Dunmore finally persuaded British General Thomas Gage to send soldiers to control the area. Gage sailed a small detachment of the 14 th Regiment of Foot to Williamsburg. This force was sent out on October 10, 1775 to raid the surrounding country in search of rebel military supplies. The raiding continued until the end of October. At that time a small British ship ran aground and was captured by the Whigs near Hampton. Dunmore ordered a British naval fleet of six ships to sail up the James River and into Hampton Creek to attack Patriot troops and destroy the town. British Captain Matthew Squire led the six ships into Hampton Creek and began bombarding the town with artillery and cannon fire. Meanwhile a second contingent of British troops landed ashore to engage the Patriots. Expecting the Patriots and local militia to come to Lord Dunmore - John Murray, 4 th Earl of Dunmore Scotland, Gov. Virginia come at a full charge and to engage in open combat, the British were surprised to come under fire from expert riflemen. These riflemen began striking down British troops from a great distance. Hearing of the British attack, Virginia's local militia leader, Colonel William Woodford, marched an additional 100 members of the militia. With reinforcements in place, the Patriots and militia pushed the British back to their ships, where the riflemen again began picking off British troops from the decks of their vessels. Facing a humiliating defeat at the hands of an outnumbered local militia, Captain Squire ordered a full British retreat. In the unorganized and hurried withdrawal that followed, two British ships ran aground and were captured. The Patriots, meanwhile, did not suffer a single fatality. Dunmore reacted by issuing a proclamation on November 7, 1775 declaring martial law and offering to emancipate Whig held slaves if they would service in the British Army. Both Whig and Tory slaveholders were alarmed. Their concern was not only just of property but the age old fear of arms in the hands of slaves used to punish their masters. Slave uprisings had long been feared. Dunmore did recruit enough slaves to form the Ethiopian Regiment and raised a company of Tories he called the Queen s Own Loyal Regiment supplementing the 14 th Foot which at time was the only presence of a British army in Virginia. Lord Dunmore wrote on November 30, 1775, the he would soon be able to reduce this colony to a proper sense of their duty. Colonial forces continued growing. Militia men were sent to Hampton under the command of Col William Woodford, 2 nd Virginia Regiment in October and more arrived at Williamsburg. Woodford advanced toward Norfolk in December to the Great Bridge and seeing a contingent of the British 14 th fortified on the north side, he began entrenching his side. December 9, 1775, the British force attacked the Virginia force (Con nued on page 9) PineShavings 8 April 2014

9 (Con nued from page 8) Major Gen Robert Howe and were decisively repulsed. The British withdrew to Norfolk. Dunmore realizing his exposed position boarded his force and town Tories onto the Royal ships in the harbor. December 10 th, Woodford force grew when he was joined by North Carolinian Col Robert Howe and 2 nd North Carolina Regulars. December 14 th, Woodford and Howe, with Howe in command, moved into Norfolk with about 1200 men. Howe immediately adopted a hard line in dealing with Dunmore s ship captains denying them requested supplies for the overcrowded ships. Like Dunmore, Howe understood that he could not hold Norfolk. He recognized that a British expeditionary force could easily land beyond the town and isolate him. He, therefore, sent a message to Williamsburg requesting the town be abandoned. British Frigate similar to the HMS Liverpool ca 1775 General Thomas Gage December 21, the British ship Liverpool arrived accompanied by a store ship with munitions and other supplies. Dunmore quickly positioned his ships, the Dunmore, the Liverpool, the Otter, and the Kingfisher along the town s waterfront. Seeing this, the townsfolk began fleeing the town. Christmas Eve, Captain Henry Bellow of the Liverpool sent an ultimatum. He said he would rather purchase supplies instead of taking them by force. Howe rejected Bellow s offer. December 30 th, Bellow sent Howe a note suggesting he stop parading his men in view at the waterfront and suggested that all women and children leave at once. Col Howe refused and continued parading his men. At 3:00 or 4:00 PM, January , Bellow ordered the Liverpool and three other ships to fire their cannons at Norfolk waterfront and Howe s parading men. The ships 100 cannon continued firing until well after dark. Landing parties were sent ashore, some to gather what provisions and others to set ablaze the buildings that had hide Whig snipers. The British succeeded in setting fire to most of the waterfront. Howe, seeing the destruction, ordered burning Loyalist business- (Con nued on page 10) PineShavings 9 April 2014

10 (Con nued from page 9) es and homes. The fires burned Norfolk to the ground. North Carolina s army continued to grow, and when Gen Charles Lee arrived to take command of the Southern Continental Army, he launched an attack on Dunmore s camp near Portsmouth. Lee attacks eventually caused Dunmore to leave Virginia in August Virginia was ignored by the British for the next three years. The ports of Portsmouth and others continued shipping and receiving goods that slipped passed the British Royal Navy. Virginians saw no real necessity of maintaining a large protective militia. British leaders at New York discussed their situation in the North and South. General Clinton wanted to send a large force to the South to support the strong Loyalist contingency in the Carolinas. Lord Cornwallis disagreed and wanted to retake the Chesapeake with the largest portion of the British army and navy. Cornwallis was overruled and Clinton began plans to retake Charleston, South Carolina. On May 5, 1779, General Clinton sent the Royal Navy with transports of supplies and 1,800 men from Sandy Hook to Virginia. The fleet arrived on May 10, 1779, sailing past the ruins of Norfolk. There was no resistance by Virginia. British detachments captured Suffolk and Gosport and other small towns in the area with no resistance except for a brief battle at Gosport s Fort Nelson where a small garrison held out for a while. All nearby towns and plantations were burned, about 130 vessels were captured was well as the cargos of tobacco valued at two million Pounds Sterling. British completed their mission, loaded up, and sailed away. PineShavings 10 April 2014